Welcome to the LMS Review Site!

Longwood’s current Learning Management System (LMS) is Blackboard and has been for over a decade.  We would like to review some other LMS products now available, as well as Blackboard, to ensure we are using the best available option for our teaching and learning at Longwood.  This review has been discussed for the past year by both leadership and members of the Digital Education Collaborative (DEC), Information and Instructional Technology Services (IITS), and the Greenwood Library.

This process will involve some vendor presentations in mid-November, the formation of a committee comprised of students, faculty and staff to look closely at each LMS product selected for review, and a blog where everyone can see what’s happening and post their comments.  All presentations and meetings will be recorded and placed on the blog for those who can’t attend in person.

Below you will find a brief description of each section of this blog.

Overview: brief overview including ‘what is an LMS’ and ‘why a review?’

Dates: Want to know what’s going on with the review and when?  This tab lists all important dates, times and locations of meetings in the review process.

Committee: Click on this tab to volunteer to be on an LMS review committee.  While all faculty,  students and staff are encouraged to participate in the review this committee will ensure a complete, consistent, and detailed review takes place for each LMS.  Responsibilities of committee members are described on this page.  Please apply to be on the committee by November 16.

Contact: A list of people to contact directly with questions or concerns.  The review process is supported by the DEC and Greenwood Library under Academic Affairs and IITS.

LMS: Under this tab you will find a link to each LMS website.  Additional material provided by the vendors, the taped presentations, and other information about each LMS will be placed here.

Rate LMS:  Even though there will be a committee working on this review, input is welcome from anyone who has the time and interest to review the vendor presentations and look at the test sites that will be set up.  This tab of the blog will provide you with an evaluation rubric for each of the systems we are reviewing.  You will be able to complete a rubric after the vendor presentations and a separate one after you explore the test site set up by each vendor.

Vendor Presentation Evaluation Forms Due:  December 8
Test Site Evaluation Forms Due:  January 5

Criteria: A short list of some core criteria for reviewing an LMS system taken from several reviews completed by other institutions.  This is a great place for you to begin sending comments about the ideal LMS. What do you  really like about the Blackboard system we currently use?  What would make your teaching or learning experience even better in the ‘perfect’ LMS system?  (and no, we haven’t found any systems that do your homework or your grading for you yet!!)